James Adonis is one of Australia's best-known people-management thinkers

They don't make them anymore - but Dr Morse's Indian Root Pills were once seen as a cure for Mondayitis. Photo: Neil Newitt

Ugh. Mondays. Depending on when you’re reading this, one of them is either just around the corner or already here. It’s the most popular day of the week for chucking a sickie, and for good reason, too. It’s a feeling otherwise known as Mondayitis and, for some of us, it begins on a Friday.

Despite some scepticism, it’s an affliction that actually exists. One poll from a couple of years ago found people spend roughly 34 minutes complaining on a Monday morning. The average on other weekdays falls to just 22 minutes.

(Granted, that was a British poll, so you can reasonably expect the length of whingeing to be significantly higher than in other countries.)

Mondayitis is not just a modern symptom of the intensity with which we work these days. It’s been around for ages, way before work/life balance was a favoured axiom of the management lexicon.

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For example, on Tuesday 12 October 1926, there was an interesting reference to Mondayitis (on the front page, no less) of The Advocate, a newspaper in northwestern Tasmania.

Located just underneath an informative piece on ‘How Pirates Work’ and to the left of an advertisement on mail-order teeth was some useful advice on how to avoid the emotional perils of a Monday morning.

The cause of Mondayitis, wrote the writer, is overindulgent eating on the weekend. This affects the liver and explains why people feel sluggish come Monday. “In such instances, a dose of Dr Morse’s Indian Root Pills taken before retiring on Sunday night will prove most beneficial,” suggests the scribe.

Sadly, the pills, which were promoted with a really enticing slogan – The Overnight Laxative with the Tonic Action – ceased to be distributed here in 1992. So, we’re forced to resort to other solutions instead.

One of these could be to scrap Mondays altogether by embracing a four-day workweek. It’s a policy the Greens took to the most recent NSW state election.

It’s not a bad idea, and it’s one that worked really well in Utah when 17,000 government employees were forced to do it as a cost-saving measure. The results were amazing. Sickies plummeted. Greenhouse gas emissions were slashed. Staff saved $6 million on petrol costs. And, despite being hostile to the move initially, 82 per cent of employees eventually wanted it to stay.

The four-day workweek was scrapped, though, in 2011. For political reasons, of course, rather than any objective evidence. But I wonder if Mondayitis would have become Tuesdayitis under that arrangement. Perhaps a long weekend every weekend would have made it even more difficult to return to work.

An alternative could be to just sleep better.

A study conducted at Flinders University – albeit on a small sample size of 16 participants – discovered that people were more fatigued on a Monday when they tried to catch up on sleep over the weekend. Oddly, we become more tired on the days that follow a sleep-in than on the days that precede it.

Others become idealistic when exploring a cure for Mondayitis. Just find a job you love, they proclaim. This is a fanciful notion for a lot of employees, but nonetheless easier to accomplish in Australia than in other countries where unemployment rates are crippling.

A more realistic option would be to make your current job a little more enjoyable. Endless studies indicate the best way of doing this is by incorporating your talents and maximising your strengths at work. Too many of us focus too much on our weaknesses and limitations, thereby making us dread heading to work on a Monday.

Or, you know what, maybe it’s time to get over the whole ‘I hate Mondays’ thing.

A clever new Starbucks advertisement in the UK aims to do just that. In a bid to minimise such animosity, the ad pontificates that a man first walked on the moon on a Monday; Big Ben first chimed on a Monday; Macbeth was first performed on a Monday; and now you can get cheap lattes on a Monday!

Ah, yes, caffeine. One of the world’s most popular drugs. Well, that’s one way to turn a glum Mondayitis into a less-glum ‘Monday it is’.

46 comments so far

"Granted, that was a British poll, so you can reasonably expect the length of whingeing to be significantly higher than in other countries"

Except for Australia who have taken whingeing to a whole new level...

Commenter

James

Location

Dystopia

Date and time

March 15, 2013, 9:29AM

Bloody oath!, we like to be best at everything and over the past 5 years we have grasped the title of "World's Greatest Whingers" with so much enthusiasm it is a shame it isn't an Olympic event - we'd have that Gold medal in the bag without having to spend so much money on non-performing athletes.

When our Whingeing King fulfils his birth right and takes power in September we can all then reap the value from the years of training in this art. Perhaps then Monday will be declared the official nationwide "Whingeing Day" so we can all be united as true Australians?

Commenter

DC

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 16, 2013, 9:27AM

Just when I was thinking that James' response was redolent of an infant school child's retort, DC chimes in from Melbourne and wins his own gold medal. Puerile stuff.

Commenter

Louis Cypher

Date and time

March 17, 2013, 7:41AM

One thing I have noticed is that those of us who whinge loudest about government, taxes, asylum seekers etc are generally the better off people in our society.

I'm avoiding lifts with a work colleague nowadays because all he does the whole trip is complain about taxes, weak government, out of touch judges blah, blah, blah... The leather seats in his 4WD BMW are comfortable though.

Commenter

cjs

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

May 08, 2013, 11:13AM

Maybe I'm lucky that I work in a job I enjoy, but I totally don't understand the whole Monday, hump day, and TGIF thing - it seems a hell of a way to live your life if you are actively wishing the futre would arrive as soon as possible from Monday morning til Friday afternoon!

Commenter

Dave

Location

Sydney

Date and time

March 15, 2013, 11:41AM

I love my job. It makes all the difference. If you hate your job, retrain, explore your options and do something about it. I've scheduled myself a twelve hour workday tomorrow (Monday) because I really like my job. I have picked myself a job that can easily make a difference in other peoples lives. After spending time in other industries, I have found my niche and I encourage others to make their future better and not dread mondays too.

http://bsl.org.au/saver-plus

Commenter

Karyn

Location

Wangaratta

Date and time

March 17, 2013, 7:55AM

What's the cure? How about get off your butt and find a job you actually enjoy instead of whinging and wishing your life away?

Commenter

D

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 16, 2013, 11:55AM

The first 5 days after the weekend are always the hardest.

Commenter

MB

Location

Syd

Date and time

March 16, 2013, 8:55PM

Mum of 8 yo and 4 yo, work 3 days a week in paid employment. I enjoy my job but am so tired after a weekend of taking kids to activities, parties and playdates and doing laundry and groceries that I could do with a day off! That said, I have a strong work ethic (first job was working 70 hours plus in public hospitals) and a sickie isn't in my dictionary. I mostly take days off work because the kids are sick, which might be a Monday, or not. Oh and I can tell you that a day at home with a sick kid isn't any fun.